Dan Osborn, the Nebraska independent Senate candidate running as a centrist in the reliably Republican state, has raised nearly $400,000 in the past week from nearly 200 donors contributing more than $1,000. Just six of those donors reside in Nebraska, campaign finance disclosures reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show.
Federal law requires Osborn, who is running against Republican incumbent Deb Fischer as a "blue collar, union worker," to disclose campaign contributions of more than $1,000 within 24 hours. Osborn has filed five such disclosures in the past week. They show he raised roughly $380,000 in contributions from 181 individuals.
Residents of California, New York, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., are well represented, according to the disclosures, which also show that Osborn raked in a five-figure contribution from former Democratic National Committee finance chair Jane Stetson. Nebraskans, however, are in short supply on the donor list. Six residents of the Cornhusker State combined to give Osborn nearly $17,000, meaning just four percent of Osborn's haul came from the state he is running to represent.
In addition to those donors, Osborn's campaign is backed by Retire Career Politicians, a Washington, D.C.-based PAC that has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads urging Nebraskans to "vote independent for U.S. Senate." In September alone, the group raised nearly $2 million from prominent liberal donors and groups, the Free Beacon reported, including hedge fund executive Donald Sussman, liberal billionaire Bill Gates's daughter, Phoebe, and the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a well-known left-wing dark money group.
The contributions are at odds with Osborn's public rhetoric, with the Senate hopeful portraying himself as "nonpartisan" and accusing Fischer of being "more Washington than Nebraska." Privately, however, Osborn has embraced left-wing politicians, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.).
"I love Bernie," Osborn told a small group of supporters last month, according to audio obtained by the Washington Examiner. "But the bottom line is we do have to peel off some conservatives." Osborn began his campaign by joining forces with Brad Chester, a former Sanders aide and member of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America who served as Osborn's finance director, the Free Beacon reported.
Osborn has, in some cases, actively sought support from coastal donors. On Sept. 11, he attended a New York City fundraiser sponsored by the nonprofit group Independent Veterans of America, which does not disclose its donors. The group's leaders include Andrew Yang, who spoke at the fundraiser. Yang ran for both president and New York City mayor as a Democrat.
- Dan Osborn attends a Sept. 11 fundraiser in New York City.
Osborn's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
In addition to Chester, Osborn, during his campaign's early stages, retained consulting firm Bread and Roses, which shares a name with the Democratic Socialists of America's Bread and Roses caucus and is managed by former staffers for Sanders and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), Cori Bush (D., Mo.), and Ro Khanna (D., Calif.). Ocasio-Cortez's former chief of staff, Justice Democrats co-founder Saikat Chakrabarti, has contributed $6,600 to Osborn, the maximum allowed, records show.
Retire Career Politicians, meanwhile, is not the only outside group boosting Osborn's candidacy. A group called Nebraska Railroaders for Public Safety spent $15,000 on pro-Osborn mailers in December 2023. It's bankrolled by Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman.